One of Keith Urban’s earliest showcases in Nashville took place at the Exit/In, a beloved rock club northwest of downtown that has been operating for more than 40 years. By his recollection, Urban’s performance didn’t go so well: former Capitol Records boss Jimmy Bowen was there long enough to hear part of one song before heading for the door.

“In Jimmy’s defense, I think I was a long way from being ready for what I was trying to do. I had a lot of work to still do,” says Urban, laughing at the memory.

Years later, Urban is one of the biggest stars on Capitol’s Nashville roster, and small rock venues like the Exit/In are largely a thing of the past when it comes to his touring plans. But Urban threw a curveball on Wednesday night, packing the club to capacity to play a free surprise show and unveil plans for his Graffiti U World Tour and forthcoming album, also titled Graffiti U.

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Kicking off June 15th in St. Louis, Missouri, the Graffiti U World Tour spans 58 shows in the U.S. and Canada and will feature support from Kelsea Ballerini. The name for the tour and album combines a couple of separate ideas that Urban found appealing.

“I was toying with the letter ‘U,'” he tells Rolling Stone Country. “Obviously it’s the first letter of my last name, but I liked that when you say it, it’s also the word ‘You.’ For me, that’s the listener, that’s the audience.”

The “Graffiti” portion of the title was more of a sensation.

“The sound of words is a big thing to me – Ripcord was like that, Fuse was like that. Fuse and Ripcord denoted a certain kind of energy in the word to me,” he says. “‘Graffiti’ to me felt very uninhibited, artistic, liberated expression. ‘Graffiti’ to me is a blank canvas and pure artistic expression upon that.”

Details around the album, along with its release date, are still scarce, but Urban notes that it will be “very much cut from the Ripcord cloth,” in terms of both its studio-focused genesis and versatility for live shows. Following a live-streamed set of his hits – and a performance of Camila Cabello’s “Never Be the Same” with Ballerini – Urban returned to the Exit/In stage to perform some of the new songs, including “Steal My Thunder” and “Same Heart.”

Still undecided is whether “Female,” Urban’s topical release around the #MeToo Movement, will make the album or just exist as a standalone. Urban says he is in the process of sequencing his finished tracks to get the best feel. Perhaps predictably, the well-intentioned song was met with both praise and criticism in a country ecosystem that is struggling to support and sustain its female entertainers.

“Even though I didn’t write it, it spoke to me the first time I heard it,” says Urban of the song written by Shane McAnally, Nicolle Galyon and Ross Copperman. “I went in and cut it with that ‘want’ for it to be out. Once it does whatever it does past that, I have no control over, and I just let it go. And I’m back into making my record. I’ve said what I wanted to say and I’m now back into making the album.”

Urban took a similar approach to recording Graffiti U, clearing the slate and refusing to place restrictions on his ideas or creative process.

“It’s why I don’t have any [of my] awards in my studio,” he says. “I don’t have any of that stuff anywhere because I like it to be as blank a canvas as it was the very first time I made a record.”